Tag Archives: Secret Project

20

Aug. ’17

Sunday plans

Yesterday was a very productive day.  I was able to do the first 5 items on my crafty to do list and interspersed other non-crafty tasks within.  Then we had a wonderful dinner catching up with friends we hadn’t seen since the beginning of summer.

Today will be a mixed day of getting ready for the upcoming week, crossing things off my crafty to do list and Game of Thrones.

Here’s today’s crafty list:

#1 – wash and fold new fabric

#2 – A Rainbow Garden – spend some time applique-ing the first set of pieces on.  Here’s a picture from my Sunday stash post earlier today.

A Rainbow Garden
Block 8 – cut the pieces and pressed the paper onto the wool fabric
8/6/17

#3 – Maxwell Bag – I wasn’t able to do this task item yesterday so it’s closer to the top of the list today.  The next steps are to cut the rope to size for the handles, cover it with soft and stable, make the fabric tube and cover the rope with the fabric tube.  I want to get these tasks done before my next bag class this coming Saturday.

The outer and inner parts put together
5/2017

#4 – Starting Point Shawl – Yesterday, I was only able to do one front row.  I’m in the section that does a lot of PTBL and KTBL (purl through the back look and knit through the back loop) and that takes a lot of concentration from me.  I only have 1 row left in this section and then I can move onto the next color which is much easier.  So today I want to do that last row and the next two rows in the new section.  I also need to take a new picture.

Starting Point Shawl
8/9/17

#5 – secret project – hand sew the binding

#6 – Raining Cats and Dogs – spend some time hand quilting this project and apparently take a new picture.  The last picture I have of this project was from last year.

#7 – Kimono – continue working on it. The plan is to do a right side and a wrong side on each sleeve every day.  I hope by the time I make it out to knit night at my LYS, I’ve got the right sleeve done and I can concentrate on the left sleeve.

#8 – Cross Stitch – work more on Mama’s Bukid.

#9 – August socks – do a couple of the 4-row repeats.  Yesterday I finished by 7th repeat so I need 5 repeats to do.  At that point, I’ll try it on and hopefully, I can start on the toes this week.

#10 – And if I have time, pull out my pajama pants and get to the next step.  To be honest, I do not think I’ll have the brain power to do this if I get to task #10.  But I notice that if it’s on my to do list, I will get to it at some point.

 

 

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01

Mar. ’15

Stash Report – Week 9, 2015

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I got the quilt frame put together and Bailey up on it.  I also got Month by Month on it.  It took me all afternoon yesterday to get it going and by the time I was done putting everything together, I was too tired to tackle the machine and actually quilting.  That’s my plan for tomorrow.  I’m really excited and I hope things go smoothly.

Finally finishes to count!  The secret project is done and I’m counting the top for Tell It To The Stars now.  I could count Month by Month now too but I’ll do that when it is off the quilt frame and bounded.  That’s a total of 9 yards used this week.  But I had to add fabric for the backing of Month by Month.  I bought 5.25 yards.  I wanted 6 to be safe but I bought the end of the bolt so 5.25 it was.  And I stuck to my intentions and got clearance fabric.

Used this week: 9 yards
Used year to Date: -23.25 yards
Added this week: 5 yards
Added Year to Date: 29.75 yards
Net Added for 2015: 6.5 yards

see more stash reports at  Patchwork Times

~Have a quilty week!

Melanie

Posted by . Categories: Month by Month, Quilting. Tags: , , , , , . 14 Comments

23

Feb. ’15

Manic Monday – 2/23/2015

Tell It To The Stars Top Finished 2/22/2015

Tell It To The Stars
Top Finished
2/22/2015

I got the secret project done over the weekend and was in such a roll that I finished the final border for Tell It To The Stars.  I had a difficult time getting the full quilt in one shot so here are a couple more with the sides…

Tell It To The Stars Top Finished 2/22/2015

Tell It To The Stars
Top Finished
2/22/2015

 

Tell It To The Stars Top Finished 2/22/2015

Tell It To The Stars
Top Finished
2/22/2015

It helped that it rained all day.  That’s the thing with Southern CA.  One day it’s cold, the next it’s in the 80’s.  Well today it was raining off and on all day.  And I hate to drive or do anything in the rain.  There are too many crazy drivers who do not know how to drive in the rain.  🙁  So I didn’t run any of the errands that was on my to do list – they will just have to wait another day.  Instead I stayed home, quilted the secret project and pieced the final border.  It was a nice day today.

Check out more finished BOMs at 

For Design Wall Monday…

Design Wall 2/16/15

Design Wall
2/16/15

Next up – put together borders on Month by Month, currently on the design wall.  I’ll be going through stash for those and hopefully I find something that works.  This is primarily a practice quilt so I do not want to spend money on fabric when I just want to add a border.  I may need to buy backing fabric though as I do not want to go through the hassle of piecing together a back.  Once that is done, I’m going to put together the mid-arm and start learning how to use it with this quilt.  

See more design walls at Patchworktimes.com

Have a great week!

~Melanie

Posted by . Categories: Design Wall, Month by Month, Quilting, Tell It To The Stars. Tags: , , , , . 4 Comments

22

Feb. ’15

Stash Report – Week 8, 2015

I received 3 yards of backing for the secret project.  So I’ve added some.  I know I bought way too much fabric for this quilt but I didn’t like how it was turning out and had to get the right fabric for it.  I’d searched the LQS’s in my area but couldn’t find anything so I turned to the online options.  Unfortunately, sometimes you buy things and when they arrive the fabric (while pretty) isn’t the right shade.  🙁  So I have to buy something else.  Part of me wants to start a new project with the leftovers.  But my goal this year is to stay with consistent and committed to finishing one project at a time and that means I cannot start something new right now.  And I’ve got a list of projects to finish before I can start something new. We’ll see if my creative self listens to my logical self.  🙂  It’s already February and I haven’t started something new yet so things are starting on the right foot this year.  Then again, it’s only February.  Now is the time to do a small project to give myself the sense of something new but still have it done in one weekend so it doesn’t become another UFO.

Even though I’ve added I’ll be having some finishes soon.  This project will be done this afternoon and while the top to Tell It To The Stars will probably be finished this week (I’ve only got 3 sides of the final border left to do.)  I do not want to quilt it on Bailey, my mid arm, until I’ve practiced a bit.  So I’m going to add borders to my Month by Month quilt and use that as my practice quilt.  I may add the finished top to Tell It To The Stars since it is a finished top.  I’ll just have to remember to only add the backing and the binding when I actually finish it completely.  We’ll see how that goes.

Used this week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: -14.25 yards
Added this week: 3 yards
Added Year to Date: 24.75 yards
Net Added for 2015: 10.5 yards

see more stash reports at  Patchwork Times

~Have a quilty week!

Melanie

Posted by . Categories: Quilting, Tell It To The Stars. Tags: , , , , , . 9 Comments

16

Feb. ’15

Not so Manic Monday – 2/16/2015

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Happy President’s Day!  Today is not a work day for me and I’m so excited.  We had a great weekend with Valentine’s Day, the hubby’s birthday and now today – a non work day!  We have tentative plans to go to the outlets and down by the beach for crab for lunch or an early dinner.  But we had a late night so the rest of the family is still in bed.  I can’t stay in bed past 8am so here I am catching up on some sewing time before everyone wakes up.  We’ll see if they still want to go out when they do wake up.

I have a few fruit trees in our back yard.  I harvested the grapefruits yesterday and tried to give them away to our friends.  Unfortunately no one wants them.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do with them?  My dad loves grapefruit and I would love to ship these to him but my mom says that it’s not good for him.  Some thing about high blood pressure…  So let me know if you’ve got any ideas.  If I do not pick them now, they’ll just be on the ground and I hate to see good fruit go to waste like that.

Now that I’m done with Clue #2 of Scrapitude and I’ve finished the top for the secret project, I’m ready to pull out Tell It To The Stars.

Tell It To The Stars Border #3 is on 2/9/15

Tell It To The Stars
Border #3 is on
2/9/15

I still have the 4th side of Border #4 and then I can move on to the final border (#5).

Check out more finished BOMs at 

 

For Design Wall Monday…

 

Design Wall 2/16/15

Design Wall
2/16/15

I’ve got the month by month project from 2006 or 2007.  I need to figure out what border(s) I want and then I will set this up on Bailey, the mid arm, for me to practice on.  I want to get comfortable with the machine and then use it to quilt Tell It To The Stars afterwards.

See more design walls at Patchworktimes.com

And… my sewing room is clean…

IMG_5922 IMG_5923 … or as clean as it can be right now.  You can’t tell but the floor is clear too.

Have a great week!

~Melanie

Posted by . Categories: Design Wall, Tell It To The Stars. Tags: , , , , , , . 4 Comments

15

Feb. ’15

Stash Report – Week 7, 2015

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Yesterday, we had high tea at a new to me tea house in Woodland Hills.  I was very surprised to learn that they were there for 10 years and I never knew about them.  I love having high tea.  I love to dress up, enjoy a good cup of tea, scones, etc. But, best of all, I love to talk with whoever comes with me about what’s going on and simply enjoy ourselves.  The girl and I used to go to high tea when we were up north regularly.  I hope we can continue that practice now that we’ve found and enjoyed this place.  Maybe we can bring some friends to join us to share this experience.

 

Scrapitude Clue #2 Finished 2/14/2015

Scrapitude
Clue #2
Finished
2/14/2015

Other than going to high tea, I spent most of the day in my sewing room.  I finished clue #2 for Scrapitude.

"Lola" 2/15/2015

“Lola”
2/15/2015

I cut the last two pieces of fabric and finished designing the secret project.  I like it much better with the new additions.  I’m glad I waited rather than just lived with what I had.  The top is pretty much done.  I’ve got 3 final rows to put together and then I can sandwich it and quilt it.  The best part of this project was that I used the featherweight for the first time.  I had to read the manual to learn how to put the bobbin in and thread the machine.  It wasn’t difficult.  But I was still scared.  It’s a really old machine!  But I LOVE it!  The first few stitches were big stitches but once I figured out how to adjust the stitch length it was wonderful.  They weren’t lying when people said that the stitches sew a nice straight line.

I also used the time to think about what I would name her.  I’m not very creative with naming my machines.  I’ve got Bernina and I’ve been thinking of the midArm as Bailey.  But I couldn’t call this featherweight Singer, my first machine was a borrowed Singer from my mom.  It worked but it was cheap and loud and when I got it going, it would shake the table I was on.  It worked, it did it’s job, but I didn’t love it.  So I can’t call the featherweight Singer.  And I can’t keep calling it Featherweight.  In my mind, it wasn’t working.  I decided to call her “Lola”.  In my culture, we call our grandmothers Lola.  And that is what this machine reminds me of, an older lady, to be respected, and probably the kind of machine my Lola used if she sewed.

So on to the stash report – nothing was finished so nothing was used.  Remember I received 3 pieces for the secret project so I added 1.5 yards. 🙁  That’s okay.  I definitely bought way too much fabric for this project but I think I’ll be doing more secret projects to get the fabric used. Woohoo!

Used this week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: -14.25 yards
Added this week: 1.5 yards
Added Year to Date: 21.75 yards
Net Added for 2015: 7.5 yards

see more stash reports at  Patchwork Times

~Have a quilty week!

Melanie

Posted by . Categories: Quilting. Tags: , , , , , , . 6 Comments

14

Feb. ’15

Happy Valentines Day!

happy vday

On special days, like today, and the hubby asks what I want to do – I would love to stay in my sewing room all day… It’s heaven!

So the plans for today is to finish up this month’s clue for Scrapitude…

Scrapitude Clue #2 1st half finished 2/14/2015

Scrapitude
Clue #2
1st half finished
2/14/2015

I have all of the first part done and was well on my way to finishing the second part last night when my thread broke.  I took the opportunity to clean the machine.  By the time it was all back together again, I was tired and went to bed.  Now its a new day and I’m sure I can get that second part finished this morning.

Next up will be my secret project, the new fabric came in and I’m not thrilled with it.  It’s one of the downfalls of buying fabric online.  I learned how to quilt from a traditional quilt shop and all my fabric is 100% cotton.  I do not know the difference between twill and satin and polyester and blends.  I don’t care to know.  Give me the good 100% cotton any day.  I’ll happily pay for it too. I don’t want to worry about bleeding or learning how to adjust my machine for different fabrics, etc.  Of course premium price doesn’t always mean that there aren’t issues but I don’t look for trouble if I don’t have to.  Anyway, all that to say that two of the three pieces of fabric I bought are usable.  The third would have been a great backing and but I’ve only got a half yard of it.  I may go back and buy more for the backing.  Of the two remaining pieces, one is 100% cotton.  The other is twill.  I have no idea what that is but it is thicker than regular fabric and I’m still going to use it because its adorable.  It just feels different, thicker, rougher.  I ordered the fabric from fabrics.com and I wouldn’t recommend purchasing from there if you could help it.  I ordered the fabric on 2/3/15 and they didn’t ship it out until 2/9/15.  That is a full 6 days which I think is unreasonable for online ordering.  Then it went via UPS ground and it took another 4 days to get to me from Georgia.  I could have paid more for faster shipping.  And I probably would have if I knew it would take 6 days for them to fulfill the order.

Once I get the fabric cut and the design laid out in a way I like I plan to use the featherweight for the first time.  🙂

Happy quilting!

Melanie

 

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26

Oct. ’13

Cats out of the bag

 

from cheeseburger.com

from cheeseburger.com

I’ve been keeping a secret project secret and now it’s not a secret.  This morning didn’t work out so well and between my mom and my dad – now the recipients know and I’m mad about it.  🙁  Oh well, c’est la vie and life has to go on.  But I’m still mad… trying not to be… but I am. /sigh
On a lighter note – I was reading one of the blogs this morning  – Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid – and Bonnie Hunter’s 2013 Mystery Quilt is starting in November 29, 2013.  It’s called Celtic Solstice Mystery.  Her introduction post with the colors and yardage and information is up on her web so if you are interested, click on the mascot, Paddy, below.  I still have it in my head to get Easy Street quilted and finished before this one starts so even though I’m laying low on that project right now, that is still at the top of my head.  I’m super excited about the new mystery quilt!  It’s a little strange that I am since I didn’t enjoy making Easy Street but I enjoyed the latter part of the quilt making process.  So now I’m excited about it!  I’m not so excited about the colors but I’m excited about starting something new with a group of online community quilters.  I enjoy seeing how everyone’s come together and how similar and dissimilar our projects all look as they are getting done.
Quiltville
So – it’s time to go to the quilt shop!  I decided to take the Long Arm Certification Class today.  I also have to get fabric for binding Secret Project that isn’t so Secret and maybe get something for the Celtic Solstice project.   The daughter of mine is getting into making her own hair stuff.  So far they’ve been different kinds of bows. She will be coming with me so she can go through and get fabric.  I’ve opened up my stash to her for her project.  I cringe when I see her cut into my beautiful fabric for her hair stuff but – who else is going to use it?  I do not have specific plans for them other than to look and pet and sigh at how pretty they all are.  So I’m holding myself back from taking it from her. 🙂 She is really enjoying herself.  In the end – I’m happy she is enjoying fabric as much as I do – if for a different kind of project than mine. 🙂  I really should count the fabric and add it to my stash report.  LOL!
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